Memphis, Tennessee ranks right alongside cities like New Orleans, New York and Chicago as among the greatest contributors to the rich legacy of American music. Blues, rock and roll, soul, jazz and hip-hop have all flowed from the city, resulting in some of the most iconic artists and labels stretching from Stax to Sun and everything in between. While drinking often goes hand in hand with live music, in Memphis that hasn’t always included craft beer. However, in recent years America’s craft beer explosion has been creeping into the “birthplace of rock and roll” with enthusiasm from beer lovers and music lovers a like.

Taking its name from the storied street that is home to numerous blues clubs and plenty of musical history, Beale Street Brewing Co. is one of the newest craft beer purveyors on the Memphis scene. Helmed by Kelvin Kolheim, who also brews, Beale Street Brewing is one of the best examples of why the Suds & Sounds column exists as it seemingly connects its beers with the Memphis music scene at every opportunity. Kolheim is as passionate about his home town and its music as he is about beer, brewing hazy IPAs, sours and more traditional styles with names and labels that reference artists like Al Green, Isaac Hayes and 8Ball & MJG. Since launching earlier this year, Beale Street has been announcing releases via social media while also distributing some of their beer to local stores. This strategy has worked well during these pandemic days when most tap rooms aren’t completely open for business, but Kolheim aims to open a brewing facility and tap room close to Beale Street’s namesake as soon as he can. We recently talked with Kolheim about how he came to brewing and creating beer that taps into the music of Memphis.

How long have you been brewing and what do you consider your greatest triumph so far as a craft brewer?

I’ve been home brewing for about 7 years now. Our greatest triumph thus far is getting some beer on the shelf earlier this year.

Talk about the beer culture a bit in your city. What do people look for in a good beer and what do you hope to provide, and also do you see the beer scene as being linked in any way to the music scene?

Memphis has an awesome young brewery scene. These guys are making great beer. The scene mimics the local culture for sure with music a chief driver.

A lot of breweries seem to incorporate their own musical tastes into their packaging and presentation, whether it be a collaboration with a band, a tribute label, or a beer name that references something they like. Has you brewery ever done something like this, and if so can you tell us about it?

Our musical taste is Memphis. We incorporate it in almost everything we do. Space Age Sippin’ was a collaboration with 8Ball & MJG. Memphis All-Day Errrday was a nod to Isaac Hayes. 528hz of Love & Hoppiness was a tribute to Al Green.

In your opinion, is there a particular band or genre that is ideal to listen to while brewing beer?

Brewing is like cooking for me. It depends on the vibe of what you’re brewing/cooking. Not too much music is excluded, I usually listen to soul music, jazz, blues, hip-hop, brass band, reggae.

Some breweries have gotten more into music through sponsoring tours, festivals, or even throwing their own versions of those. How do you think live music fits into the fabric of craft beer, and is this something your brewery has done?

Music is the rhythm of life. Craft beer fits perfectly as music is also a universal language.

When naming beers, do you consciously try and reference songs, bands or albums, or do you find you naturally gravitate towards it?

Absolutely, it’s a natural gravitational pull as we’re intentional in celebrating Memphis through the love of craft beer.

Do you have any musicians or noteworthy people that you can say are fans of any of your beers?

8Ball & MJG, Bun-B, along with some other Memphis artists. Fans of 8Ball & MJG are excited to see them collaborate with us.

Breweries often collaborate with other breweries for beers. They also have been known to collaborate with musicians. Is there a musician or band that you would love to collaborate with, and if so, what kind of beer do you envision you would brew?

We are planning to do more collabs for sure. Every artist we celebrate/collaborate with we were fans first, so each beer is special. We are definitely intentional when tailoring the liquid to the artists’ style.

What is the plan for Beale Street Brewing in the long-term? Is the goal to open a taproom on or near Beale Street?

One goal for Beale Street Brewing Co. is to find our own space for a production facility and taproom. Yes, that’s correct.

Visit bealestbrewing.com for more info. 

Check out other editions of Suds & Sounds:

NOLA BREWING

TRVE Brewing

Switchback Brewing Co. 

Real Ale Brewing Company

Burnside Brewing Co.

Sweetwater Brewing Company

Illuminated Brew Works

Tennessee Brew Works

Taos Mesa Brewing

The Lost Abbey

Shmaltz Brewing Company

Against the Grain

Melvin Brewing

Hanging Hills Brewing Company

On Tour Brewing

Hops & Grain

Sanctuary Brewing Company

Upright Brewing

4th Tap Brewing Co-op

The post Suds & Sounds: Beale Street Brewing Co. Celebrates Memphis Music Through Craft Beer appeared first on Glide Magazine.

Austin, Texas has always been a music town, but it hasn’t always been a craft beer town. Luckily, things have been changing in the last decade as the Live Music Capital of the World has seen an explosion of craft beer with breweries popping up in every corner of the city. Naturally, there is a symbiosis between beer drinkers and music lovers and many breweries have embraced Austin’s unique musical culture and multitude of bands by hosting their own shows, employing musicians, and in some cases collaborating with local bands.

Founded in 2015 and currently residing in North Austin – an industrial area that is home to numerous breweries these days – 4th Tap Brewing Co-Op has made music a part of their culture since day one by hosting live local bands in their tap room on a regular basis. They have also brought the same adventurous creative spirit that defines Austin’s music scene to their beer, which often includes unconventional and wonderfully “weird” takes on traditional styles. We recently chatted with 4th Tap President and Co-founder John Stecker about the brewery’s love for music and their new collaboration with Black Pumas, possibly the hottest band in Austin that have blowing the minds of audiences well beyond their hometown with their fresh take on classic soul.

How long have you been brewing and what do you consider your greatest triumph so far as a craft brewer?

The first batch of beer I ever brewed was a 5 gallon homebrew on an apartment stove. That was back in 2006, I think? I kegged it up, invited all my friends over, and we had a party. That kind of laid the foundation of 4th Tap’s philosophy way back then. My greatest triumph as a craft brewer, honestly, has been getting the opportunity to work alongside creative and far more talented brewers here at 4th Tap.

Talk about the beer culture a bit in your city. What do people look for in a good beer and what do you hope to provide, and also do you see the beer scene as being linked in any way to the music scene?

Beer culture in Austin is big and has been leading the way here in Texas. Not to say that the other cities don’t have culture. Amazing beer is being produced all over the state these days. Every city has a different scene along with different beer preferences as well. Here in Austin, we are more of a lager town, which goes hand-in-hand with our incredible music scene. Many of the breweries in town have space for live music – we have two different stages here at 4th Tap.

A lot of breweries seem to incorporate their own musical tastes into their packaging and presentation, whether it be a collaboration with a band, a tribute label, or a beer name that references something they like. Has you brewery ever done something like this, and if so can you tell us about it?

To some extent, sure. We definitely lean in a punk, metal, and desert-rock direction. Those styles of music certainly influence our art and design some, but our tastes are fairly eclectic. We are just now releasing our collaboration with Austin’s Black Pumas, who received a grammy nomination for Best New Artist. We are always down to support and work with any Austin-based musicians. Maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that I met 4th Tap’s original head brewer back when we were in a band together. We spent five years playing up and down the Red River music district here in Austin, long before 4th Tap was even an idea, so the scene and that strip of venues will always have a special meaning for us.

Can you specifically talk about your recent collaboration with Black Pumas? How did that come about? What kind of beer did you brew and how did the band’s music inform the beer you chose to brew?

We are so excited to be collaborating with them. And, unlike many “collaborations” which are usually just sharing logos, we genuinely collaborated on this beer. It started off kicking ideas around over email, then a handful of pilot batches that we were sending to them for feedback and notes. We ultimately settled on “Stay Gold” – a 5.5% hoppy pale ale featuring cryo-Mosaic and Amarillo. From a musical perspective, they are bringing some modern style to a classic, old-school genre. In the same vein, our hop usage and methods are modern techniques bringing a spin to a classic beer style.

Some breweries have gotten more into music through sponsoring tours, festivals, or even throwing their own versions of those. How do you think live music fits into the fabric of craft beer, and is this something your brewery has done?

Oh yeah. We jump at almost any chance to partner with musicians and events. Here at the brewery, we’ve hosted classical groups, opera, metal shows, chip-tune showcases, you name it. Every year, during a certain large music/film festival in March, we throw an 8-day party called 4X4T. We host free shows featuring primarily Austin musicians nearly every night.

When naming beers, do you consciously try and reference songs, bands or albums, or do you find you naturally gravitate towards it?

Most of our beers end up being movie references in some way or another. Most of us are also big dorks when it comes to film.

Do you have any musicians or noteworthy people that you can say are fans of any of your beers?

Well, the Black Pumas to be sure

Breweries often collaborate with other breweries for beers. They also have been known to collaborate with musicians. Is there a musician or band that you would love to collaborate with, and if so, what kind of beer do you envision you would brew?

IDLES. Mostly so I have an excuse to meet and hang out with that crew. I’ve been blasting their music at the brewery since they first popped up as a suggestion on Spotify.

4th Tap Brewing Co-op is located at 10615 Metric Blvd. in Austin, TX. Visit 4thtap.coop for more info. 

Check out other editions of Suds & Sounds:

NOLA BREWING

TRVE Brewing

Switchback Brewing Co. 

Real Ale Brewing Company

Burnside Brewing Co.

Sweetwater Brewing Company

Illuminated Brew Works

Tennessee Brew Works

Taos Mesa Brewing

The Lost Abbey

Shmaltz Brewing Company

Against the Grain

Melvin Brewing

Hanging Hills Brewing Company

On Tour Brewing

Hops & Grain

Sanctuary Brewing Company

Upright Brewing

The post Suds & Sounds: 4th Tap Brewing Co-op Embraces Austin Music Scene with Black Pumas Collaboration appeared first on Glide Magazine.

The best brewers are often those who refuse to do the same thing over and over. Flagship beers aside, there is something to be said for change and evolution. Upright Brewing’s Alex Ganum approaches the craft like his beloved jazz, always tinkering, experimenting and improvising with technique and style. This open-minded approach has made Upright one of the most quietly respected breweries in the Northwest, netting them numerous awards for styles that range from classic pilsners and English old ales to IPAs, barleywines, and saisons.

Upon visiting Upright, located at the end of a maze of hallways and staircases in the basement of a nondescript brick building a stones throw away from Portland’s Moda Center (home to the Trailblazers), one immediately feels cozy in the subterranean confines. Besides the delicious beer, this is due to the nearly constant sounds coming from a record player located behind the bar. Here, the beertenders enjoy serving up an eclectic array of sounds ranging from jazz to Zappa to obscure African music and throwback rock. The brewery often references jazz musicians on their gorgeous bottle labels, and even serves up a employee-curated playlist from time to time. All of this equates to a brewery that finds symbiosis in music and beer in the form of pure creativity and maximum enjoyment of life. The brewery’s name is even a nod to a certain legendary jazz artist (more on that below). To learn more about Upright’s relationship with music, we recently talked with Upright brewer Alex Ganum.

How long have you been brewing and what do you consider your greatest triumph so far as a craft brewer?

I started brewing is an intern at Brewery Ommegang back in 2003 after a year of homebrewing, it’s pretty much been my only career as an adult. I think getting Upright open is probably my most meaningful accomplishment – at the time I was more of a production guy than a businessperson, so there was a ton to learn to make the brewery something that would last. Looking back eleven years later, I’ve got to admit that it feels good to have made it figured out how to get rolling and then operate the brewery this far.

Talk about the beer culture a bit in your city. What do people look for in a good beer and what do you hope to provide, and also do you see the beer scene as being linked in any way to the music scene?

The Portland beer scene must be legendary at this point; we have several founding father types that paved the way for younger generations like myself and I hope to help contribute in a similar way so other hard working creative folks can thrive too. It’s a pretty amazing place to brew and be a beer enthusiast, we’re just surrounded by solid beer – even dive bars have a great selection!

I think a good beer just needs to be satisfying, so that can be something simple, hugely complex, and anything in between, you just need to take each one on its own and drop any excessive expectations or made up contexts. Perhaps music is similar, where people often prefer to compartmentalize it rather than truly get into what the artist is trying to express. That being said, there’s plenty of people out there who “get it” and aren’t going to miss out on a wonderful experience.

A lot of breweries seem to incorporate their own musical tastes into their packaging and presentation, whether it be a collaboration with a band, a tribute label, or a beer name that references something they like. Has you brewery ever done something like this, and if so can you tell us about it?

We have a lot of musical elements in our beers, between the names and label art. We’ve worked with Lloyd Winter for years now on the designs, he’s a musician and is able to keep the general theme while changing up the style, something I personally appreciate. As brewers we’ve always gravitated toward artists that are constantly moving and confident in their work, so people like Frank Zappa, Charles Mingus, and Sun Ra (to name just a few popular ones) are very inspirational. We even named the brewery after Mingus – Upright is simply a reference to his primary instrument.

In your opinion, is there a particular band or genre that is ideal to listen to while brewing beer?

We’ve found that music with horns tends to cut through the sound of our pumps, so don’t be surprised to hear some afro/latin or afrobeat if you poke your head in while we’re doing production work. Like nearly everyone, we’ve got eclectic tastes here so the music covers a big range – might be anything from Canada’s Hanson Brothers to Mandré to XTC.

Some breweries have gotten more into music through sponsoring tours, festivals, or even throwing their own versions of those. How do you think live music fits into the fabric of craft beer, and is this something your brewery has done?

Upright is pretty small so we don’t do a ton of sponsorships or festivals, but we do have a great 20s/30s style blues musician named Steve Cheeseborough every Sunday – he’s been playing here since we started! Music and beers or bars go hand in hand, and even though we don’t do any live stuff apart from Steve, the brewery taproom has become a bit of a destination for music nerds. We have a nice turntable and stereo setup down here thanks to Gary at True Audiophile and our bartenders and brewers bring in new LPs everyday, so it’s typical for music to become as big a part of our conversations with visitors as beer.

Do you have any musicians or noteworthy people that you can say are fans of any of your beers?

We’ve worked with a local musician named Parker Hall on a couple special projects. He’s not famous but he’s really talented. Him and his brother Jon are avid homebrewers and fans of what we do down here, and it’s a blast to chat with them about both beer and music.

Breweries often collaborate with other breweries for beers and Upright is no stranger to this. They also have been known to collaborate with musicians. Is there a musician or band (dead or alive) that you would love to collaborate with, and if so, what kind of beer do you envision you would brew?

Wow, what a question! Off the top of my head, I think it would be super fun to collaborate with Mike Patton. I think his take on pop music would be hilarious to translate into the world of beer, and he once said in response to a question about the meaning of his lyrics that he just liked the way the words sounded together, a line that’s stuck with me for years.

Upright Brewing is located at 240 N Broadway in Portland, OR. For tap room hours, beer lineup and more visit uprightbrewing.com. Note that hours may be different due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Check out other editions of Suds & Sounds:

NOLA BREWING

TRVE Brewing

Switchback Brewing Co. 

Real Ale Brewing Company

Burnside Brewing Co.

Sweetwater Brewing Company

Illuminated Brew Works

Tennessee Brew Works

Taos Mesa Brewing

The Lost Abbey

Shmaltz Brewing Company

Against the Grain

Melvin Brewing

Hanging Hills Brewing Company

On Tour Brewing

Hops & Grain

Sanctuary Brewing Company

The post Suds & Sounds: Upright Brewing in Portland, Oregon Finds Symbiosis in Creativity of Music and Beer appeared first on Glide Magazine.

Recently, I was scrolling through my Instagram feed and I noticed one of my longtime favorite artists, Bobby Bare Jr., sharing the news that a brewery had named a beer after him. Besides the silly name – Bobby Beer Jr. – I was interested know about a brewery that clearly has great taste in music. Upon researching Sanctuary Brewing Company, I found that music played a role in not just their beer naming, but in pretty much everything they do.

Located in Hendersonville, North Carolina, Sanctuary was founded by Joe Dinan and Lisa McDonald 2015 as a community-focused brewery. The brewery maintains a busy schedule of music – both local and touring acts – and also hosts open mics. Music is seemingly a constant presence at Sanctuary, which makes it almost as much a music venue as a taproom. Besides the music, they also welcome animal lovers and frequently host events like yoga with cats, adoptable pet night, and fundraisers for local animal-oriented charities. All of these activities are complemented by beers such as Pineapple Express IPA, Cascara Kitten biere de garde, Carolina Panther Porter, and of course the refreshing Bobby Beer Jr. kolsch. Joe Dinan – who formerly brewered at renowned sour and IPA purveyors Wicked Weed – aims to use organic and local ingredients whenever possible, only adding to the hyper local, community-oriented approach of Sanctuary. And did I mentioned they’re all vegan? While there are tons of cool things happening at this nano brewery, I recently with chatted co-owner Lisa McDonald about Sanctuary’s symbiotic relationship with music.

How long have you been brewing and what do you consider your greatest triumph so far as a craft brewer?

Joe has been home brewing for nearly a decade, and professionally brewing since 2013. As for greatest triumph, we’d both definitely say opening a successful brewery that is not only highly competitive and well respected but also serves as a community center and a place that does good in the world.

Talk about the beer culture a bit in your town. What do people look for in a good beer and what do you hope to provide, and also do you see the beer scene as being linked in any way to the music scene?

We are located in Hendersonville, so we have a mix of the Asheville craft brew scene (tourists and locals), and our own small town culture. We run the gamut of folks who like their good old-fashioned American classics (light ales and porters), all the way to folks who are drinking on the cutting edge (fruit forward New England IPAs and fruited kettle sours). The music scene is as vibrant as ever in Hendersonville and Sanctuary is right in the middle of it. We have live music 6 nights a week, and have been rated one of the best local venues since we opened.

A lot of breweries seem to incorporate their own musical tastes into their packaging and presentation, whether it be a collaboration with a band, a tribute label, or a beer name that references something they like. Has you brewery ever done something like this, and if so can you tell us about it?

We actually named a beer after one of our musical idols, Nashville indie rocker Bobby Bare Jr. The beer is called Bobby Beer Jr. and Bobby played our taproom the day we released that beer, which was kind of a dream come true. We’ve got him coming back later this summer, stay tuned for updates on that! We also did a beer for Flat Rock locals Letters To Abigail, our LTA IPA!

In your opinion, is there a particular band or genre that is ideal to listen to while brewing beer?

It depends on who gets there first, as that brewer typically sets the tone. That said, the brew team can usually agree on listening to everything from Johnny Cash to Modest Mouse to Jack White.

Some breweries have gotten more into music through sponsoring tours, festivals, or even throwing their own versions of those. How do you think live music fits into the fabric of craft beer, and is this something your brewery has done?

We host live music 6 days a week, including open mics, bluegrass jams, etc. Music is an intrinsic part of who we are to ourselves and our identity in the community.

When naming beers, do you consciously try and reference songs, bands or albums, or do you find you naturally gravitate towards it?

There’s been some back and forth on this, Lisa LOVES Ryan Adams and has been pushing for a Rye’n Adams Rye for quite some time (she’s going to win).

Do you have any musicians or noteworthy people that you can say are fans of any of your beers?

We have done quite a few collaborations, and we made a beer with local fan favorites Letters To Abigal (the aforementioned LTA IPA). We are also currently working on a collaboration with ARCA racecar driver Leilani Münterwho is a friend and a hero to us because of her activism and all-around badassery, stay tuned for that as well! And we recently finished the first of 2 beers we’re brewing in collaboration with documentary filmmaker Kip Anderson, the 2nd brew will be coming out of Bourbon Barrels in 4 weeks!

Breweries often collaborate with other breweries for beers. They also have been known to collaborate with musicians. Is there a musician or band that you would love to collaborate with, and if so, what kind of beer do you envision you would brew?

We’ve done lots of collabs with other breweries, and now you’ve really got us thinking about asking one of our musical heroes to do a beer with us, what’s Ryan’s Address?

Sanctuary Brewing Company is located at 147 First Avenue Eastin Hendersonville, NC. For tap room hours, beer lineup and more visit sanctuarybrewco.com.

Check out other editions of Suds & Sounds:

NOLA BREWING

TRVE Brewing

Switchback Brewing Co. 

Real Ale Brewing Company

Burnside Brewing Co.

Sweetwater Brewing Company

Illuminated Brew Works

Tennessee Brew Works

Taos Mesa Brewing

The Lost Abbey

Shmaltz Brewing Company

Against the Grain

Melvin Brewing

Hanging Hills Brewing Company

On Tour Brewing

Hops & Grain

The post Suds & Sounds: Sanctuary Brewing Company Keeps It Community-Oriented In Hendersonville, North Carolina appeared first on Glide Magazine.

Austin, Texas is a music town if ever there was one. Though self-proclaimed, the “Live Music Capital of the World” is known for massive events like South By Southwest and Austin City Limits, as well as having a rich musical history that includes the likes of Willie Nelson, Doug Sahm, Roky Erickson, Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan, not to mention current favorites like White Denim and Spoon. With so much live music happening across the city, there is plenty of beer drinking, and not all of it is Lone Star. These days Austin’s brewery scene is just about as bustling as its festival scene with new establishments popping up all over town.

One of the establishments that laid roots in Austin earlier in the city’s craft beer boom is Hops & Grain. With its comfy and hip East Side tap room and cans that are ubiquitous in the beer section at H.E.B., Hops & Grain has become a local favorite since it was founded in 2011 by Josh Hare. Hang out at any show around Austin and there’s a chance you’ll find people sipping on their regular roster of heady IPAs, or get together with some pals to cook up some barbecue and someone might bust out a bottle of their Volumes of Funk series. They even recently brewed a Texas Honey IPA, putting a twang on a style that could use it. At the core of the Hops & Grain community is a deep love of music that seems to touch everything they do. Recently, we talked with Founder and President Josh Hare about brewing beer in one of the best music towns in the world and channeling those good vibes into the brewery’s recipes and culture.

How long have you been brewing and what do you consider your greatest triumph so far as a craft brewer?

Josh Hare: I’ve been brewing professionally for about a decade now but my start in making beer began as a curious 19 year old attending a private university that didn’t allow alcohol consumption. My buddies and I learned that all the ingredients needed to make beer could be purchased by someone not of legal drinking age. We made a lot of beer in college, most of it drinkable. Our intent was never to perfect our recipes, we were just intent on making sure that it had alcohol! My greatest triumph so far has been assembling an incredible team of women and men that are committed to our goals as a brewery and committed to their own personal development. Their hard work and integrity has given me the peace of mind to know that the brewery will continue to crank out world class beer and I don’t have to be there all the time to oversee it. Which has enabled me to focus my energies on growing our business and fighting to modernize the archaic regulatory system that exists in Texas.

Talk about the beer culture a bit in your city. What do people look for in a good beer and what do you hope to provide, and also do you see the beer scene as being linked in any way to the music scene?

The beer culture in Austin is very similar to the food and music culture in Austin. Most consumers care about where their beer comes from and they do everything they can to support local. Austin is also a town that enjoys drinking! It’s also pretty warm in Austin most of the year so creating beers that are full of character but easily quaffed on a warm summer day seem to be the most popular. What we hope to provide to Austin is continuing to push the envelope not just with innovative new products but also with innovative methods for quality control. We’ve been operating a state of the art lab almost since day 1 and we’re very transparent about our research and findings, especially when it comes to our exploration of hop forward beers! I definitely see the music and beer scene to be very aligned in Austin. Many if not all of the local music venues in town have a solid line up of local beer and I think that our weather and culture lends itself well to music festivals.

A lot of breweries seem to incorporate their own musical tastes into their packaging and presentation, whether it be a collaboration with a band, a tribute label, or a beer name that references something they like. Has your brewery ever done something like this, and if so can you tell us about it?

We have not done a specific collaboration with a band or a tribute label but just about every story behind our beers can trace back to a specific genre of music. The most recent label is one called Lupulin Rodeo IPA. The branding was inspired by some of my favorite bluegrass bands, incorporating a really cool mountain backdrop to represent probably my favorite, Yonder Mountain String Band.

In your opinion, is there a particular band or genre that is ideal to listen to while brewing beer?

For me it totally depends on what I’m doing in the brewery. If I’m on the brewhouse I prefer 90’s country music or bluegrass. The act of turning water and malt into this beautiful liquid primed for fermentation is a rewarding process and has always reminded me of agriculture. Something about a George Strait song and a beautiful mandolin strum always get me excited. If I’m working the cellar cleaning tanks or just all around cleaning, I prefer Phish circa early 2000’s. I can clean a floor with the best of them if you throw on “Run Like An Antelope”!

Some breweries have gotten more into music through sponsoring tours, festivals, or even throwing their own versions of those. How do you think live music fits into the fabric of craft beer, and is this something your brewery has done?

Live music is best enjoyed with cold local beer! We try and get involved in as many music festivals as possible. We always take part in SXSW events and when our budget allows we like to take part in sponsoring events like the Hot Luck Festival.

When naming beers, do you consciously try and reference songs, bands or albums, or do you find you naturally gravitate towards it?

All of our beer names are references to stories that we associate with the beer. We don’t consciously try and name beers after songs, bands or albums, but when we’ve got a few good options I like to sit down with my favorite vinyl and my turntable to ruminate on the options.

Do you have any musicians or noteworthy people that you can say are fans of any of your beers?

I don’t have any evidence of this but I’m pretty sure that George Strait loves our River Beer Premium Lager. Kyle Hollingsworth from String Cheese Incident has visited Austin a number of times and enjoys our pale lager, The One They Call Zoe. His daughter’s name is Zoe, which was why he tried it for the first time – we made sure that he enjoyed the liquid!

Breweries often collaborate with other breweries for beers and Hops & Grain is no stranger to this. They also have been known to collaborate with musicians. Is there a musician or band that you would love to collaborate with, and if so, what kind of beer do you envision you would brew?

I’d have to say Willie Nelson. We created a series of beers last year called the Dispensary Series. In this series we push the boundaries of hop usage to deliver some of our favorite flavors and aromas. I’m pretty sure we could put together a pretty rad collaboration beer in this series with Willie!

Hops & Grain is located at 507 Calles St #101 in Austin, Texas. For tap room hours, beer lineup and more visit hopsandgrain.com.

Check out other editions of Suds & Sounds:

NOLA BREWING

TRVE Brewing

Switchback Brewing Co. 

Real Ale Brewing Company

Burnside Brewing Co.

Sweetwater Brewing Company

Illuminated Brew Works

Tennessee Brew Works

Taos Mesa Brewing

The Lost Abbey

Shmaltz Brewing Company

Against the Grain

Melvin Brewing

Hanging Hills Brewing Company

On Tour Brewing

The post Suds & Sounds: Hops & Grain Brewing Embodies the Austin Vibe and Musical Culture With Tasty Brews appeared first on Glide Magazine.

When it comes to beer, Chicago is the place to be these days as it has been experiencing an explosion of exciting new breweries in recent years. On the Windy City’s West Side one of the newest breweries to open plays direct tribute to the bands that inspired it. Founded by third-generation Chicago native Mark Legenza, On Tour Brewing Company is built on the very foundations of the idea that live music and beer go hand in hand. Indeed, good music should be enjoyed with good beer, and the brewery’s German Pilsners, Doppelbocks, Belgian Pale Ales and other tasty offerings make a fine companion for soaking up some heady tunes. Since opening in January 2017, the brewery has consistently drawn in the beer and music loving denizens of Chicago with delicious craft beer and the occasional show. Recently, we talked with Founder and Brewer Mark Legenza about what makes On Tour Brewing such a special place both in its community and in the spectrum of craft beer as a whole.

How long have you been brewing and what do you consider your greatest triumph so far as a craft brewer?

I’ve been brewing for 10 years. We’ve had a lot of success in 2017. Winning 2017 Very Small Brewery and Brewmaster of the Year at the Great American Beer Festival was a nice surprise!

Talk about the beer culture a bit in your city. What do people look for in a good beer and what do you hope to provide, and also do you see the beer scene as being linked in any way to the music scene?

In Chicago we have a lot of people following to their own unique journey in beer. It creates an interesting beer scene in that we have all the styles covered locally. Beer and music go hand in hand. We’re seeing a lot more music venues expanding their beer programs to include small producers.

A lot of breweries seem to incorporate their own musical tastes into their packaging and presentation, whether it be a collaboration with a band, a tribute label, or a beer name that references something they like. Has you brewery ever done something like this, and if so can you tell us about it?

We like to have subtle nods to music that inspires us. Whether that be in a label or beer name. Our goal is to almost create a hidden message for someone to find in everything we do. That found message will resonate when discovered and not be off putting to someone outside of the “know”!

In your opinion, is there a particular band or genre that is ideal to listen to while brewing beer?

Hands down the Grateful Dead!

Some breweries have gotten more into music through sponsoring tours, festivals, or even throwing their own versions of those. How do you think live music fits into the fabric of craft beer, and is this something your brewery has done?

We are a very small brewery. We’d love to be involved with sponsoring tours and festivals but that is out of our reach at the moment. Creating music has creativity, passion and energy. There is a unspoken communication happening between the musician and audience. Making beer and sharing with someone has a lot of overlap. People can experience something you deeply care about and translate that experience in many ways.

When naming beers, do you consciously try and reference songs, bands or albums, or do you find you naturally gravitate towards it?

With so many breweries naming beers, the first goal is to pick something that hasn’t been used before! Its very difficult! Try it yourself!

Breweries often collaborate with other breweries for beers. They also have been known to collaborate with musicians. Is there a musician or band that you would love to collaborate with, and if so, what kind of beer do you envision you would brew?

It would be a lot of fun to collaborate with a Chicago-based band like Umphrey’s McGee or Wilco. I would envision the beer to be something very approachable and highly consumable at a show!

On Tour Brewing is located at 1725 W Hubbard St, Chicago, IL 60622. For more info visit ontourbrewing.com.

Check out other editions of Suds & Sounds:

NOLA BREWING

TRVE Brewing

Switchback Brewing Co. 

Real Ale Brewing Company

Burnside Brewing Co.

Sweetwater Brewing Company

Illuminated Brew Works

Tennessee Brew Works

Taos Mesa Brewing

The Lost Abbey

Shmaltz Brewing Company

Against the Grain

Melvin Brewing

Hanging Hills Brewing Company

The post Suds & Sounds: Chicago’s On Tour Brewing Embraces The Love of Live Music and Beer appeared first on Glide Magazine.

Late last year I was browsing social media and feeling some serious FOMO over the fact that I would be missing The Hold Steady’s 4-night Massive Nights celebration at the Brooklyn Bowl New York. It seemed like everyone I respect in the music industry and a handful of friends would be there, but there was no way I could fly across the country. Making the whole thing even more painful was the fact that the band was releasing a special beer just for the shows…a hazy IPA no less! Being a fan of The Hold Steady and the haze, I looked up the brewery responsible for bringing two of my favorite things in the world together only to discover that is was a little brewery out of Hartford, CT called Hanging Hills Brewing Company.

Hartford isn’t exactly a major tour stop for most bands, nor is it a craft beer hotspot, which is precisely why Hanging Hills seemed so interesting. Fast forward to February of this year and the brewery crossed my radar once again when they brewed a special beer to celebrate the annual Drive-By Truckers (another favorite) Heathens Homecoming at the 40-Watt in Athens, GA. Turns out, the team at Hanging Hills are huge music fans and are quickly gaining a reputation not just for their band collaborations, but for their hazy IPAs, not to mention sours, stouts, saisons and pilsners among other styles – many of which are named after songs. At their little brewery in Hartford they even book the occasional band. Ultimately, the brewery seemed like a perfect fit for this column and lucky for me Founder and Brewer Joe Ploof was happy to talk.

How long have you been brewing and what do you consider your greatest triumph so far as a craft brewer?

Both my business partner, Brian [Cox], and I have been brewing professionally since 2012. We graduated from the same summer class of the American Brewers Guild. Personally, I think the greatest triumph as a craft brewer was opening our doors. There are so many hurdles and negative opinions towards small business, especially as we approach theoretical saturation in craft, that it’d be a lot easier to work for someone else indefinitely and not open our own business. We opened Hanging Hills on July 9th, 2016 in spite of the hurdles and, more importantly, no longer have to work for another boss. That’s a pretty rad feeling. Bosses suck ass.

Talk about the beer culture a bit in your city. What do people look for in a good beer and what do you hope to provide, and also do you see the beer scene as being linked in any way to the music scene?

The beer culture in Hartford is a bit nascent compared to other cities of our size. We self-distribute in Hartford and the surrounding town of West Hartford. Many of the businesses, as in more than 50%, won’t give us a sniff because we self-distribute. You also have to take into account the very real wealth gap between Hartford and the surrounding bedroom communities. Are people going to spend $12 for a 4-pack of our IPA or are they going to drop $6 on a 6 pk of some light lager? Hartford is one of the poorest cities in the country, so beer money is tight for a lot of our citizens. There are some things we can change (I pester the HELL out of the folks who won’t take our business) and others that’ll require more help than craft beer. We try to focus on the things we can change.

With that said, there are a handful of truly awesome package stores and bars that are not only open-minded to working with us but are truly supportive of what we’re up to. They check in with me weekly about what’s new, what moved really well for them, or just to find out what size pint they should be serving a certain beer in. It’s been pretty rad to watch doors open and find a warm and receptive audience on the other side.

This being New England, IPA is the king of craft. Specifically the eponymous hazy, juicy, fruity style the region specializes in. We learned pretty quickly that in order to get people to the ESB table, we were going to need to offer a hazy IPA. The palate for this beer can be quite sophisticated. Generally speaking, folks have learned the difference between a good example of the style and a poorly crafted one. Oh, New England! IPA, Hartbeat DIPA and Mail Truck American Pale are regular offerings in these styles. Mail Truck is an awesome, fruity and dry American Pale that emphasizes the tropical and unique pepper-like qualities of the Ekuanot/El Dorado hop combo. Hartbeat DIPA is an 8.4% showcase of Citra and Mosaic hops. All at once catty, mango-y, pineapple-y and wonderful. Oh, New England! is our hop rotator IPA. This most recent batch blended Citra with Idaho 7 for a truly wild flavor profile.

The beer scene is 100% connected to the music scene, especially here in Hartford. I feel like small businesses and bands tend to have a chip on their shoulders here – imagine going through the rigamarole of opening a business only to have patrons suggest that we should have opened in one of the bedroom communities surrounding the city. We love it here. We love the underdog status. We love that our beer is drawing people from all over the state into a part of Hartford that they would’ve only driven past before. The bands and musicians tend to draw from that same headspace. Even if they don’t play punk music aesthetically, it’s a punk mindset. An us vs them. And we all thrive in that battle of existential evils.

A lot of breweries seem to incorporate their own musical tastes into their packaging and presentation, whether it be a collaboration with a band, a tribute label, or a beer name that references something they like. Has you brewery ever done something like this, and if so can you tell us about it?

Oh yeah, for sure. We did a beer called Water Tower Kettle Sour that we fermented on pink guava last year. The idea was to create a beer that would inspire some drinking atop a water tower during the summer. It’s a thing you do in po-dunk towns when you’re growing up. I did it and half the kids I went to, uh, cough, high school with did the same thing. The Hold Steady has a song called “Constructive Summer” in which Craig Finn says “we’re gonna lean this ladder up against the water tower/climb up to the top and drink and talk”, and it perfectly encapsulates the need to socialize and drink with a mix of thrill seeking. The summer is all about taking chances, right? We wanted to tap into that youthful energy with both the style of beer, the name of the beer and the label artwork (which we owe a deep debt to the classic Endless Summer movie poster). I’m probably going to get some misguided blowback for encouraging teen partying but that’s not really the idea. The idea was to capture the mindset of youthful indiscretion, risk taking, fun, etc all while confronting the harsh realities of what summer really means as an adult.

Can you specifically talk about your recent collaboration with the Drive-By Truckers? How did that come about? What kind of beer did you brew and how did the band’s music inform the beer you chose to brew?

About three years ago, I emailed lead singer Patterson Hood’s general info email to let him know how much his solo record meant to me. Having grown up as a conscientious redneck myself, the songs affected me deeply. Within 24 hours, the DBT’s manager, Christine Stauder, emailed me back to say thanks and that she would forward on to Patterson. Because of that email, I now had her email address which I had forgotten about until November of 2017. At that time, we were gearing up to do a collaboration beer with the Hold Steady for their run of shows at the Brooklyn Bowl. Feeling emboldened by the Hold Steady partnership, I emailed Christine to find out if the Drive-By Truckers would be interested in doing something similar for their Homecoming shows in Athens, GA in February. She emailed me back (again) and said, hey, let me talk it over with the guys but maybe. She also went to the Hold Steady shows (there’s a monster union within the fan Venn Diagram of the two bands) and had the beer we did for them, and was impressed enough to help make it happen. She emailed me back again and said, yes, in fact the band was interested but that they didn’t want to do an IPA. To me, this was great news. IPA sells but it’s a brew that takes up about 70% of our fermenter space at any given time. When she asked us to do something different, my brain immediately started thinking about Georgia and their artist Wes Freed and what would it mean to make a Georgia-influenced beer. When I think of Georgia, I think of peaches and pecans. We hadn’t brewed a brown ale at the Hanging Hills yet so I worked with head brewer Brian Cox to come up with a pecan brown. Now that that we had a style, we started researching Georgia grown agricultural ingredients. We finally settled on triticale malt, a wheat-rye hybrid, that’s as nutty as it is spicy, and sorghum syrup because sorghum syrup is on a lot of kitchen tables in the south instead of maple syrup. The rest was just balancing out the beer.

In your opinion, is there a particular band or genre that is ideal to listen to while brewing beer?

Depends on who’s brewing…for our assistant brewer Eric, he’ll play anything from Ty Segall to Kendrick Lamar to (if no one else is around) some heavy Doom Metal. Brian is a monster Gary Clark, Jr and Rory Gallagher guy so if he has control of the bluetooth that day, you can rest assured it’s some blues oriented music. For me? Brewing makes me tap into the creative side of my brain. I tend to think in locations; what am I brewing? What’s the beer’s intent? Where would I drink it? All things to keep me in the headspace of the beer…I’ll (obviously) play a lot of DBT but also Tom Fucking Petty, AA Bondy, Kendrick, a band from my home town called the Kamikaze Hearts, Neil Young’s On the Beach, Sturgill Simpson, Lucinda Williams, the Clash, the Hold Steady, Patti Smith, John Prine’s first record, Allen Toussaint, Rebirth Brass Band, Margo Price, Tammy Wynette…whatever the beer calls for.

Some breweries have gotten more into music through sponsoring tours, festivals, or even throwing their own versions of those. How do you think live music fits into the fabric of craft beer, and is this something your brewery has done?

Our 1st Anniversary party came real close…4 bands, we partnered with a couple other small businesses to set up pop-up shops, two food trucks, but really, we’re tiny. Like we have a 10-barrel brewhouse, 4×20 bbl fermenters and 1×30 bbl fermenter. We don’t have the cash money to do something that inspired just yet. Some day we’re going to throw a kick ass party and invite y’all to Hartford to enjoy it with us.

When naming beers, do you consciously try and reference songs, bands or albums, or do you find you naturally gravitate towards it?

I think it’s a little of both. I brewed a DIPA using galaxy hops awhile back. It was so explosive, so flavorful and I was listening to Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea so calling it She Was Born in a Bottle Rocket just fit. Other times, take Chester, Goddamnit for instance…it’s a perfect beer name in its own right but as the name of a marquee beer for a three night, 25+ song setlist series of shows at a legendary rock club (the 40 Watt), Chester, Goddamnit! is so perfect. Take our rotating hop series, Oh, New England!. It’s a series of hazy New England-style IPA so the name fits independently. But when listening to Jonathan Richman’s “New England”, you really get what we’re going for. His song is a love letter to the region and ours is a love letter to the style invented by the region’s brewers.

Do you have any musicians or noteworthy people that you can say are fans of any of your beers?

Motherfucking Steve Selvidge (Hold Steady guitarist) came up to me before the Friday night Hold Steady set, shook my hand and said, “You brewed this IPA (Massive Nights IPA)? It’s really fucking good.” I’ll take that endorsement over just about anyone.

Breweries often collaborate with other breweries for beers and Hanging Hills is no stranger to this. They also have been known to collaborate with musicians. Is there a musician or band that you would love to collaborate with, and if so, what kind of beer do you envision you would brew?

Man, this is a good question. We’ve already partnered with my two favorite bands, The Hold Steady and the Drive-By Truckers, so anyone else is an extra layer of frosting on the cake. I can’t believe that those two collabs happened so I haven’t had the chance to think on the next step yet.

Probably Haim. Those sisters are fucking hilarious, their songs are perfect pop gems, and I think they’d probably drink some with us. So long as we could choreograph a dance routine with them, shit, I’d brew whatever they told me to brew. I think Brian’s eyes have rolled all the way back into his head just thinking about a Haim beer. But yeah, Haim. Haim is the business.

Hanging Hills Brewing Company is located at 150 Ledyard St. in Hartford, CT. For tap room hours, beer selection and more visit hanginghillsbrewery.com.

Check out other editions of Suds & Sounds:

NOLA BREWING

TRVE Brewing

Switchback Brewing Co. 

Real Ale Brewing Company

Burnside Brewing Co.

Sweetwater Brewing Company

Illuminated Brew Works

Tennessee Brew Works

Taos Mesa Brewing

The Lost Abbey

Shmaltz Brewing Company

Against the Grain

Melvin Brewing

The post Suds & Sounds: Hartford’s Hanging Hills Brewing Company Teams Collaborates With Your Favorite Bands on Tasty Brews appeared first on Glide Magazine.

In this age of $20 4-packs served up by hyper-local breweries to eager beer nudes who wait in line for hours, the craft beer scene can tend to be a little self-serious. Believe it or not, it’s possible to make really good beer and still have a sense of humor. Just ask the team at Melvin Brewing. Since 2010, the Alpine, Wyoming-based brewery has been serving up tasty brews to a rapidly growing fanbase and having a hell of a good time doing it. Their best known beer is the award-winning 2×4 double IPA, a high-ABV hop bomb that is so beloved the brewery decided to start a holiday around it with 2×4 Day, which takes place on February 4th (get it?) and features loads of rowdy activities. This year they will flip the numbers and hold 2×4 Day on April 2nd. The Melvin team also loves hip-hop and kung fu, so it’s only natural that their beers sometimes contain references to Wu-Tang, like their Killer Bees American blond ale.

Music, comedy and kung-fu play a role in everything the brewery does, from their Drunken Master double IPA to Chuck Morris (also a double IPA). At the 2017 Great American Beer Festival, the Melvin team parked a school bus on the convention floor and had a DJ cranking out hip-hop while their elephant mascot danced along, drawing plenty of attention from excited beer lovers who flocked to the party. In advance of the event they asked their fans to contribute suggestions to the GABF playlist. One time they even once staged a face-off between a craft beer ninja and a Budweiser ninja in a San Diego bar…guess who won. All of this is part of a strategy that involves a passion for good beer and fun. To get an inside look at what makes Melvin stand out in the craft beer world, we talked with Co-founder and Field Hoperative Jeremy Tofte.

How long have you been brewing and what do you consider your greatest triumph so far as a craft brewer?

I started home brewing when I was 19 and have now brewing professionally for 7 years. The greatest triumph was introducing our small town to the future of craft beer. When we first started in the back of a Thai restaurant in 2010, ½ of the town was hating on our beer saying things like “the hops are too young” and “they add vodka to 2×4 to get it to 10%”. Of course, we are a ski town and not a craft town, so there was no blaming people that didn’t have craft beer in their Top 10 most Important Things list. We almost started believing that the beer was not as good as we thought it was. And then in 2012, at our first Great American Beer Festival, we won Silver for Chchchch-Cherry Bomb and Gold’s for 2×4 Double IPA and Melvin IPA. We also won the coveted Alpha King award the day before. Mind = blown. Beer vindicated. Worldwide takeover eminent. By 2017 we finally won best beer in town in one of those newspaper vote-in things for 2×4, you know, the one with the vodka and young hops in it.

Talk about the beer culture a bit in your city. What do people look for in a good beer and what do you hope to provide, and also do you see the beer scene as being linked in any way to the music scene?

Just like music and beer, people just seem to like what they like and it’s not fair to hold that against them. The beer culture in our town is associated with jam bands. We are actually naming a beer “There are not enough bus accidents involving jam bands”. It’s long winded but I think it speaks to our core values. At our establishments, we play hip-hop and soul.

A lot of breweries seem to incorporate their own musical tastes into their packaging and presentation, whether it be a collaboration with a band, a tribute label, or a beer name that references something they like. Has you brewery ever done something like this, and if so can you tell us about it?

We may or may not have several beer names loosely adapted from a certain influential hip-hop group.

In your opinion, is there a particular band or genre that is ideal to listen to while brewing beer?

Metal and hip-hop, or as my dad likes to call it, The Rap, are the only two genres one is allowed to listen to while brewing. If anyone tells you different, they are doing it wrong.

Some breweries have gotten more into music through sponsoring tours, festivals, or even throwing their own versions of those. How do you think live music fits into the fabric of craft beer, and is this something your brewery has done?

Unfortunately, someone at almost every brewery has a roommate that decided it would be a good idea to start playing the mandolin. Playing around the bonfire in the backyard over a growler quickly escalated to open mics at the brewery. As the brewery grows, they bring the mandolin playing type bands around with them because it’s an easy way to sell beer: “Play that there hillbilly country music and sales will go through the roof!”. At Melvin, we have a strict roommate vetting process that was put in place to make sure that no employees will ever have a roommate that plays mandolin.

Do you have any musicians or noteworthy people that you can say are fans of any of your beers?

Melvin Van Peebles. Only one we know of and the only one that matters.

Breweries often collaborate with other breweries for beers and Melvin is no stranger to this. They also have been known to collaborate with musicians. Is there a musician or band that you would love to collaborate with, and if so, what kind of beer do you envision you would brew?

We would like to collab with the lead singer guy from Guns n’ Roses. Make the worst beer ever and make him drink it all. And then put a mandolin in his hand.

For all things Melvin Brewing, visit melvinbrewing.com.

Check out other editions of Suds & Sounds:

NOLA BREWING

TRVE Brewing

Switchback Brewing Co. 

Real Ale Brewing Company

Burnside Brewing Co.

Sweetwater Brewing Company

Illuminated Brew Works

Tennessee Brew Works

Taos Mesa Brewing

The Lost Abbey

Shmaltz Brewing Company

Against the Grain

The post Suds & Sounds: Hip-hop, Kung Fu, and Damn Tasty IPAs at Melvin Brewing appeared first on Glide Magazine.

Depending on what state you live in, there’s a chance you’ve had to do a double take at your local beer store after catching the site of a can featuring bizarre, colorful, and overtly funny label art. Maybe it was the can with the poop-stained, tightey whitey backside, or a double IPA adorned with a strange looking burly hipster, mohawked bird, and arrows. In other words, there’s a good chance you’ve seen beer from Against the Grain, and if you’ve actually purchased it than you know it’s some damn tasty stuff. Since 2011, the quirky brewery has been bringing a wide array of delicious beers to the community of Louisville, Kentucky and beyond. Living up to their name, the brewers at Against the Grain often put their own twist on traditional styles of beer. Their “Mac Fannybaw” is a twist a Barrel aged Rauchbier that uses Beechwood and Peat smoked malt to give it a taste reminiscent of Scotch, while “Gnight Ryder” is an imperial black ale aged in red wine barrels. Those are just a couple of the eclectic range of beers they brew, and if you browse their full lineup you’ll quickly realize that the only thing they love as much as cartoony packaging art and puns is music. In fact, you can find music and puns together in many of Against the Grain’s creatively named brews, like “David Lee Froth” (India pale lager), “Judas Yeast” (Belgian style dubbel), and “Herbie Samplecock” (French saison) just to name a few. Music and humor seep into pretty much everything the brewery does, and if you’re lucky enough to visit their Louisville pub you may even get to catch some live music.

Between their omnipresent sense of humor, general weirdness, and love of music, we feel like Against the Grain is a welcome presence not just in their hometown, but in a craft beer industry that has a tendency to be a little too self-serious these days. To find out more about the role music plays at Against the Grain, and to meet one of the minds responsible for the brewery’s craziness, we talked with Brewmaster and Managing Member (they are brewer-owned!) Jerry Gnagy.

How long have you been brewing and what do you consider your greatest triumph so far as a craft brewer?

Jerry Gnagy: I’ve been brewing beer since I was just a wee lad back on the lone prairie. I ‘spect it’s been nigh one score save 3 years or 17 anos to the layman. My greatest triumph as a craft brewer was the death threats received from running The Brown Note through a randle with a pair of Whitey Tightey’s. (Bear in mind that I’m using common nomenclature for underwear, I frankly do not support the patriarchy’s classification of underwear based on color)

Talk about the beer culture a bit in your city. What do people look for in a good beer and what do you hope to provide, and also do you see the beer scene as being linked in any way to the music scene?

I have studied quite a bit the beer culture in this city and, like in several other cities not named Omaha (’cause they’re a bunch of dicks), people like beers that are good and have a good flavor and are also easy to drink. So what we do is try to match that want with what we are brewing, [and] I feel that this is at least a top 5 reason [why] we are marginally successful. That and the black market tooth whitening products I sell..<—-Off the record!!! The beer scene is related to the music scene because a lot of the bands that play music like to drink beer and then I heard that people sitting around and drinking beer don’t like to do it in silence and in lieu of having a conversation they enjoyed the non random sounds of music. I started off AtG by taking a brown stick and hitting a hollow gourd and it seemed to work okay, but then my good buddy Jevon brought his boom box in and, by cracky people enjoyed it more, and my arms were less tired… the rest is history.

A lot of breweries seem to incorporate their own musical tastes into their packaging and presentation, whether it be a collaboration with a band, a tribute label, or a beer name that references something they like. Has you brewery ever done something like this, and if so can you tell us about it?

We certainly have, we’ve done a lot of stuff, but maybe the best example is a few years ago when every brewery in the world was trying to be the most “metal” brewery. I set out to make the most metal beer ever so that we could just end it. So we brewed a red malt liquor because I don’t think great heavy metal bands like Ratt or Ugly Kid Joe drink imperial stouts as they rock out on stage. But we did a little better than that; we started our own heavy metal band called Save Ferrous and we did an a capella cover of “Reigning Blood” complete with a music video…

Going off of the previous question, one of the things that stands out about Against the Grain is the label designs, which often reference music. How much do the musical tastes of the brewers come into play when coming up with label designs and/or names of beers?

The tastes of brewers always come into play for designs and names. Do you honestly think that designers have any sort of creativity? Doubtful…

In your opinion, is there a particular band or genre that is ideal to listen to while brewing beer?

I enjoy listening to everything, but what really moves my glorious body is Lionel Richie. Many a lovely lady has fainted as I have cha cha-ed to “Say You Say Me”… YOU ARE A SHINING STARRR—ARRRR!! <–this is when they melt. So don’t bring your main squeeze around me for brew day unless you don’t mind him/her fantasizing about me next time you make Whoopie (not Goldberg) (I’m talking about sex, okay).

Some breweries have gotten more into music through sponsoring tours, festivals, or even throwing their own versions of those. How do you think live music fits into the fabric of craft beer, and is this something your brewery has done?

Yes we have woven live music into the fabric of craft beer with our magical loom. We haven’t sponsored any large music tours or festivals because we squandered all our marketing money on cocktails and tooth whitening serum. Actually, it all started with our brewery motto that we have hanging above the mash thingys (also know as cookers to the laypeeps). Surrounded by corn husks it reads “Live, Love, Laugh” and I think that sums up what we feel about music and craft type beer. YOU GOTTA LIVE MUSIC LIVE!!! Then you find some(one)(thing) to LOVE! They then LAUGH at your IMPOTENCE so you CRY. We have got to update our motto, but I think I made my point.

Do you have any musicians or noteworthy people that you can say are fans of any of your beers?

I have a cocktail straw that was used by THE KID ROCK!! I then put it in my beer and swish it around and tell that story. You know how much wool I pull from that??? I get more ass than a toilet seat because of that straw.

Against the Grain is located at 401 E Main St in Louisville, KY. To check out their full beer selection, smoked meat-heavy food menu, and general shenanigans, visit atgbrewery.com.

Check out other editions of Suds & Sounds:

NOLA BREWING

TRVE Brewing

Switchback Brewing Co. 

Real Ale Brewing Company

Burnside Brewing Co.

Sweetwater Brewing Company

Illuminated Brew Works

Tennessee Brew Works

Taos Mesa Brewing

The Lost Abbey

Shmaltz Brewing Company

The post Suds & Sounds: Against the Grain Keep It Weird and Lively In Louisville appeared first on Glide Magazine.

Who doesn’t like their craft beer with a side of humor? Perhaps one of the most humorous and perplexing breweries around today is Shmaltz Brewing Company. In 1996 Jeremy Cowan founded the brewery as “a Jewish celebration craft beer” aimed at giving beer lovers their suds with a side of schtick. At the time and even now it may have seemed like an odd idea to brand a brewery with light-hearted Jewish humor, but it clearly worked. Today Shmaltz beers are distributed in over thirty-seven U.S. states by 40 distributors, and carried in 5,000 retailers across the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom. It’s also worth noting that even though they may be all about the schtick, the folks at Shmaltz actually make some damn good beer, from their flagship Hop Manna IPA to their barrel aged sour series Funky Jewbelation.

Besides the funny beer names and packaging, there are musical references throughout everything at Shmaltz, and though they clearly appreciate humor, they also appreciate good tunes. You can see their love of music in products like their A Tribe Called Shmaltz variety pack and Funky series, as well as in events like their annual anniversary party and Vintage Vinyl night – pairing vintage vinyl and vintage beer – at their tasting room in Clifton Park, NY. Here at Glide, we hold music, humor, and beer in high esteem, so naturally we wanted to ask the team at Shmaltz about all three of those things. Luckily for us, Shmaltz Owner and Founder Jeremy Cowen was willing to take a few minutes to answer some questions.

How long have you been brewing and what do you consider your greatest triumph so far as a craft brewer?

Jeremy Cowen: 21 years of being not a brewer, but a contract brewer and brewery owner, so just surviving and sometimes thriving through two decades is a point of pride. But, definitely seeing all the creative projects that go from inside our heads onto shelves, bars, and into happy customers’ lives is a great feeling.

Talk about the beer culture a bit in your city. What do people look for in a good beer and what do you hope to provide, and also do you see the beer scene as being linked in any way to the music scene?

I’m lucky because I was coming up in Northern California in the middle of a spectacular beer world and then transplanted to a growing beer community in NYC, and then to Upstate New York. There’s definitely a curiosity for anything new, which is fun for us as brewers and as beer drinkers ourselves. From the very beginning, Shmaltz brewing has been involved with music, from our launch party in San Francisco with several bands for Hanukkah to our most recent anniversary party and so much more to come with our new EQX collaboration.

Note: EQX, also known as WEQX 102.7, is a local alternative radio station.

A lot of breweries seem to incorporate their own musical tastes into their packaging and presentation, whether it be a collaboration with a band, a tribute label, or a beer name that references something they like. Has you brewery ever done something like this, and if so can you tell us about it?

I am not afraid to admit that I was a huge RUSH fan as a boy and have been proud to include references, tidbits, and tributes to them and their lyrics in a slew of our anniversary beers, the Jewbelation series.

In your opinion, is there a particular band or genre that is ideal to listen to while brewing beer?

This one I’m going to defer to our brewing and production team since they make the magic happen! “I listen to 311 pretty much all day every day while I brew. It’s positive, uplifting and energetic. It keeps me in a good mood and on top of my tasks. -Chris DuFrain, Brew House and Cellar Supervisor

Some breweries have gotten more into music through sponsoring tours, festivals, or even throwing their own versions of those. How do you think live music fits into the fabric of craft beer, and is this something your brewery has done?

Absolutely. For many years we’ve done parties, festivals, and events with bands from Jewish bluegrass to heavy metal cello to serious funk. Some of the best things in life mashed up with awesome music and amazing beer – what a treat to have both throughout our lives.

Do you have any musicians or noteworthy people that you can say are fans of any of your beers?

I have a picture of Mel Brooks holding our Hanukkah Beer, which is a golden moment in the history of my people.

The Shmaltz Brewing Company tasting room is located at 6 Fairchild Square in Clifton Park, NY. To learn more about their schtick as well as their tasty brews visit shmaltzbrewing.com.

Check out other editions of Suds & Sounds:

NOLA BREWING

TRVE Brewing

Switchback Brewing Co. 

Real Ale Brewing Company

Burnside Brewing Co.

Sweetwater Brewing Company

Illuminated Brew Works

Tennessee Brew Works

Taos Mesa Brewing

The Lost Abbey

The post Suds & Sounds: Shmaltz Brewing Company Serves Up Funky Schtick and Tasty Beer appeared first on Glide Magazine.